‘We will not elbow him out of govt’ – Lesufi has no intention of taking over from Makhura before 2024

Committing himself to a seamless handover of the political baton, Gauteng ANC chair Panyaza Lesufi yesterday said he had no intention of taking over from premier David Makhura before the 2024 expiry of his term of office.

Responding to a question during a media briefing at the party’s Luthuli House headquarters in Joburg, Lesufi said his newly elected provincial executive committee (PEC) would not stand in the way of Makhura, should he wish to leave office – “but we will not elbow him out of government.”

In an earlier interview with a Joburg daily, Makhura made clear his wish to vacate his position before his term ended. Lesufi said there was “only one centre of power and that centre is the ANC”.

He added: “It does not matter whether the premier is not the chair of the province. Paul Mashatile was chair when David Makhura was premier – something which had no impact in the running of government.

“We are trying to get the ANC right and not rush into occupying government positions. The ANC is agile and we have to sought it out first. South Africans are emotionally attached to the ANC – whether they are members or not. We should not take people’s concerns for granted. Our major challenge is to fix the ANC first.”

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While denying that the Gauteng ANC conference was “shambolic” or “chaotic”, Lesufi reflected “on logistical and other challenges” he experienced.

“Besides attending to disputes, the other major challenge was seeking out credentials – a matter we have to discuss in the future. We are coming out of a conference that was highly contested and had its own limitation, compared to previous conferences.”

He said there were delays in the outcome due to the challenges experienced in the Ekurhuleni regional conference.

“The matter of Ekurhuleni took almost three weeks to attend to. The day the conference was to start, the NEC was in session. It would disingenuous to say we did not have problems.”

Lesufi said fighting crime would be one of the ANC’s key priorities during his term as chair. – brians@citizen.co.za